Wasn’t my entire Chain proof that no affinity was truly extinct?
And what of the affinity Shafer sensed, thenew onehe couldn’t name because he’d never felt it before?
Part of me was glad Wyatt was finally embracing the fact that he had some sort of affinity for sensing, even if it was weak and untrained. It was unfortunate that Shafer was the only Sensor I knew of who’d be willing to teach him, and the two of them didn’t get on well at all.
Fucking Wyatt, always pissing off important people.
Although…I grinned to myself. I tended to do the same.
I rounded a corner I was pretty sure I hadn’t already passed, and suddenly the shadows enveloped me, pulling me into an alcove and obscuring my human form.
Odd…but then I heard voices.
I moved completely into my shadow form as none other than my father and the Crusader exited the door to the dungeons.
The Crusader was pissed, shaking his head back and forth as my father urgently spoke to him.
“She’ll get it, I swear!” Alejandro hissed a little loudly. Clearly, he didn’t expect anyone to be here to witness this.
“I don’t trust you anymore,” the Crusader said with a shake of his head. “We’ll have to try one of the others.”
“They’re…they’re too weak. They’ll never be able to–”
“I don’t care!” the Crusader snapped, and Alejandro’s steps faltered, coming to a stop as the other man rounded on him.
A very, very weird sense of protectiveness flashed through me.
I didn’t like Alejandro, but I didn’t exactly hate him. Watching someone else put him in his place should’ve been something exciting, but instead…it made me a little angry.
“Any news on Shafer?” the Crusader continued back up the hall as if this was his home, and not Alejandro’s.
My father straightened his tie before following as if nothing had happened. “No,” he replied. “I’m assuming you had no luck in the islands?”
“None,” the Crusader clipped. “I don’t know how many of those islands I visited, but I never saw any sign of him. Even my Ward couldn’t sense him.”
Alejandro scoffed.
“I know,” the Crusader muttered in agreement.
“He’s been rebelling too hard.” Alejandro said.
“You say that like I’m not the one dealing with it,” the Crusader replied. He blew out a heavy breath. “He’ll be back to normal soon enough.”
I began to follow them, the shadows hiding me as I slipped from dark patch to dark patch while I made my way up the hall. This conversation was important, even if I wasn’t yet sure why.
“Avery,” Alejandro said, his voice a little uncertain. “Can he really…”
“Yes,” the Crusader responded. “Yes, he can. He’s definitelychoosingnot to, but we’re working on that. I have a new assignment for him, since I’m down a Sensor.”
“Does she help you at all? She used to have a way with him.” Alejandro said.
“No,” the Crusader replied with a shake of the head. “He can do no wrong, as far as she’s concerned. Her fits are growing in frequency,as you know. But it’ll be fine. Things will be better once I’ve found my phantom.”
A cold chill wafted down my spine.
I’d known the Crusader was in charge of the Pilgrims. I’d known the Pilgrims had attacked the islands, and the academy. I’d known they’d referred to Skye with that code name, but somehow, hearing this man use it in regular conversation with my father was…
The shadows reacted without my say so, skipping down the hall and dancing around the light switch as I held in a groan.
